Amelia

Mister Strix Gather Information DC10: "Mister Strix" is an urban myth. Just some graffiti and a spooky story Bedlam's scumbags tell each other. DC15: Mister Strix is real. Wears all white. Shows up out of nowhere and vanishes without a trace. He fights crime all over Bedlam City, especially when it involves the Mafia. He's the one guy in Bedlam who never takes a cut for himself. He flushes your product and burns your cash. A character who actively uses their Gather Information skill on Mister Strix will not obtain any of the following information unless they make a point of searching for potentially restricted information. If they do, then they also need to make a contested Gather Information check against Strix. If he wins, then he will be alerted to their inquiries. They can avoid the contested check by taking a -20 penalty to their original Gather Information checks for a Discrete Inquiry (or if the have the relevant challenge feat). A character using the Well-Informed feat upon first meeting Strix or hearing of him may obtain the following information with a high enough Gather Information check, but since that represents prior knowledge, it will not trigger a contested check against him. DC20: He only comes out at night. They say it gets cold when he shows up. He's stronger and faster than any man should be. Bullets go right through him like he wasn't there. There's no security he can't beat, and nowhere you can hide from him. The cops have nothing on him. No pics, no video, no prints, no DNA. The guy's a ghost. DC25: Mister Strix isn't a ghost. He's a vampire. He drinks blood. The following information cannot be obtained with a Well-Informed check. It can only be obtained with an active use of the Gather Information skill. DC30: Mister Strix is a member of the Twilight Lodge, a secret club of Bedlam city vigilantes and mystics. DC35: Mister Strix displays all the signs of an ancient vampire bloodline called the Schattenblut, or "Shadow-Blood". They have a strong connection to the Schattenwelt, even stronger than most of the undead. He isn't just a member of the Twilight Lodge, he's the president. DC40: Mister Strix is Doctor Gaetano "Guy" Giordano. He died several years ago, and he came back wrong. An appropriate Profession sub-skill can be substituted for any of these skills. Knowledge (Arcane Lore) DC20: The few eyewitness accounts and rumors regarding Mister Strix indicate that he shows several signs of being some sort of supernatural creature. He seems to be repelled by religious symbols, silver (which used to be thought of as solid light), and herbs like garlic and wolf's bane. He's never been seen in daylight. He leaves cold spots in his passing. Some say his footsteps make no sound and leave no prints, and he has no shadow. DC25: Mister Strix is definitely a vampire. He has almost every tell in the book. DC30: Mister Strix displays all the signs of an ancient vampire bloodline called the Schattenblut, or "Shadow-Blood". They have a strong connection to the Schattenwelt, even stronger than most of the undead. Knowledge (Streetwise) DC10: "Mister Strix" is an urban myth. Just some graffiti and a spooky story Bedlam's scumbags tell each other. DC15: Mister Strix is real. Wears all white. Shows up out of nowhere and vanishes without a trace. He fights crime all over Bedlam City, especially when it involves the Mafia. He's the one guy in Bedlam who never takes a cut for himself. He flushes your product and burns your cash. DC20: He only comes out at night. They say it gets cold when he shows up. He's stronger and faster than any man should be. Bullets go right through him like he wasn't there. There's no security he can't beat, and nowhere you can hide from him. The cops have nothing on him. No pics, no video, no prints, no DNA. The guy's a ghost. DC25: Mister Strix isn't a ghost. He's a vampire. He drinks blood. Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) DC25: The few eyewitness accounts and rumors regarding Mister Strix indicate that he shows several signs of being some sort of supernatural creature. He seems to be repelled by religious symbols, silver (which used to be thought of as solid light), and herbs like garlic and wolf's bane. He's never been seen in daylight. Some say his footsteps make no sound and leave no prints, and he has no shadow. Guy Giordano Gather Information DC10: Gaetano "Guy" Giordano was a physician in Bedlam City. DC15: Doctor Giordano was born in Bedlam City in 1981. He graduated high school in 1999, university in 2003, and medical school in 2007. He worked at Bedlam General Hospital briefly before dying in 2012. He grew up on Stark Hill. He died at home, in bed, of some undetermined illness. He left behind a widow, Adriana Aparo, also a doctor at Bedlam General. A character who actively uses their Gather Information skill on Mister Strix will not obtain any of the following information unless they make a point of searching for potentially restricted information. If they do, then they also need to make a contested Gather Information check against Strix. If he wins, then he will be alerted to their inquiries. They can avoid the contested check by taking a -20 penalty to their original Gather Information checks for a Discrete Inquiry (or if the have the relevant challenge feat). A character using the Well-Informed feat upon first meeting Strix or hearing of him may obtain the following information with a high enough Gather Information check, but since that represents prior knowledge, it will not trigger a contested check against him. DC20: Guy Giordano and Adriana Aparo met when they both attended university and medical school in Chicago. They completed their emergency medicine residencies in Detroit, then spent a year with Doctors Without Borders in Libya and the Congo. They had just gotten married and bought a house a few months before he died. She remarried a few years later. She has a daughter with her new husband. Guy's younger brother Rafael was a Catholic priest. He was violently murdered just a few days after Guy passed away. They're buried next to each other. Guy's family is in deep with the Bedlam Mafia. DC25: Rafael Giordano was murdered right on top of his older brother's grave, the night after he was interred. Guy Giordano father is one of "Dapper Donny" Scarpia's "capos", his older brother is a made man and his father's heir apparent, and his brother-in-law is a button man in a different crew who's well on his way to being made. The following information cannot be obtained with a Well-Informed check. It can only be obtained with an active use of the Gather Information skill. DC30: Accounts of Guy's illness and death are consistent with folklore about demonic possession and attacks by supernatural creatures such as succubi and vampires. His grave is empty. There's a casket buried there, but there's nothing in it. DC35: Guy Giordano is a vampire. After he died, he dug himself out of his own grave, killed his brother in a feeding frenzy on the spot, then disappeared. DC40: Guy Giordano is the vigilante Mister Strix. An appropriate Profession sub-skill can be substituted for any of these skills. Knowledge (Life Sciences) or Medicine DC10: Guy Giordano and Adriana Aparo were both licensed and board-certified physicians with a specialty in emergency medicine. DC15: Doctors Giordano and Aparo went to college and medical school in Chicago, and completed their residencies in Detroit. They spent a year with Doctors Without Borders, in Libya and the Congo. DC20: Doctors Giordano and Aparo both worked in the emergency room at Bedlam General Hospital. She continued working there after his death. Knowledge (Streetwise) DC10: The Giordano family are Italian-Americans who live on Stark Hill. They're probably at least friendly with the Bedlam Mafia. DC15: Guy Giordano's father, Massimo "Mo" Giordano, is part of the Bedlam City Mafia. So are his older brother, Matteo "Matt" Giordano, and his brother-in-law. DC20: The Giordano boys are part of the Scarpia family. They've all got some blood on their hands. DC25: Mo Giordano is one of at least ten "capos" working directly under "Dapper Donny" Scarpia himself. His son Matt is a made man, part of his crew and his heir apparent. Mo's son-in-law is a button-man in another capo's crew, who's going to be made any day now. Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) DC10: Like most people on Stark Hill, the Giordano family are Catholic. DC15: Guy's younger brother, Rafael Giordano, was a Catholic priest. DC20: Rafael Giordano was violently murdered a few days after his brother passed away from some undefined illness. They're buried next to each other. DC25: Rafael Giordano was murdered right on top of his older brother's grave, the night he was interred. He wasn't just a priest. He was an elite Vatican-sponsored monster-hunter, with multiple confirmed kills. DC30: Both Rafael and his brother appear to have been murdered by vampires.

Persephone Gather Information DC10: Persephone is a superhero, one of Vibora Bay's official City Defenders. She controls plants. DC15: By superhero standards, Persephone is a pacifist. She's friendly and nonthreatening. Even before she became a City Defender, she was the kind of superhero who waited for the cops and talked to reporters. She doesn't just control plants. She's at least part-plant herself. She doesn't need to breathe. When someone tries to choke or drown her, it does nothing. When she gets shot or stabbed, you can see green stuff inside her, and she doesn't bleed much, if at all. She mostly just leaks a little sap, and then her body knits itself back together. The following information cannot be obtained with a Well-Informed check. It can only be obtained with an active use of the Gather Information skill. A character who actively uses their Gather Information skill on Persephone will not obtain any of the following unless they make a point of searching for potentially restricted information. If they do, then they also need to make a contested Gather Information check against Persephone. If she wins, then she will be alerted to their inquiries. They can avoid the contested check by taking a -20 penalty to their original Gather Information checks for a Discrete Inquiry (or if the have the relevant challenge feat). DC20: Most sightings of Persephone happen in the western half of Vibora Bay. She probably lives in Weston. The New Shadows gang has the word out that they'll pay for any information about Persephone. DC25: Persephone has a secret identity. She's Doctor Camellia Blume, a local psychiatrist. She destroyed an entire pack of New Shadows affiliated vampires, and the rest of the gang wants revenge. DC30: AEGIS has been aware of Persephone the entire time she's been operating as a superhero. They always suspected her of having a secret identity, since she had no known residence or occupation. They had a handful of suspects, including Doctor Blume. But they did not consider Persephone to be a threat, and there were no open warrants for her arrest, so AEGIS only did a routine preliminary investigation into her, and they kept the results strictly internal. When she became a City Defender, her identity became a matter of (secret) record, and AEGIS was able to add that record to their own file on her. An appropriate Profession sub-skill can be substituted for any of these skills. Knowledge (Cosmology) DC30: There used to be an alternate Earth where they genetically engineered plants to form symbiotic bonds with human soldiers, turning them into biological weapons. It wasn't enough to protect them from Omega, and that dimension fell to the Terminus years ago. Persephone has the exact same powers as those hybrid super-soldiers. Knowledge (Life Sciences) DC10: Plants aren't supposed to do that! DC15: Plants are physically incapable of doing that for a dozen different reasons. Physics don't even work that way, never mind biology. DC20: Plants don't just respond to her direct commands. They dive to take the bullet when she doesn't even know she's being shot at. There's some kind of instinctive, intuitive communication happening between them, probably over an olfactory or psychic medium. Knowledge (Popular Culture) Decrease the DC of this check by -5 if your character lives in Vibora Bay, or if they do their research in Vibora Bay. DC10: There's a superhero in Vibora Bay called "Persephone". There's also a green-skinned plant-controller in Vibora Bay. They might be the same person. DC15: Persephone is a superhero, one of Vibora Bay's official City Defenders. She controls plants. DC20: By superhero standards, Persephone is a pacifist. She's friendly and nonthreatening. Even before she became a City Defender, she was the kind of superhero who waited for the cops and talked to reporters. DC25: Persephone doesn't just control plants. She's at least part-plant herself. She doesn't need to breathe. When someone tries to choke or drown her, it does nothing. When she gets shot or stabbed, you can see green stuff inside her, and she doesn't bleed much, if at all. She mostly just leaks a little sap, and then her body knits itself back together. Knowledge (Streetwise) DC20: The New Shadows gang has the word out that they'll pay for information about Persephone. DC25: Persephone destroyed a whole pack of vampires affiliated with the New Shadows. The entire gang has standing orders to capture or kill her. They haven't put a price on her head because they want to be the ones to take it. Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) DC10: Persephone was a figure from Greek mythology. DC15: In Greco-Roman myth, Persephone has something to do with plants, and winter. DC20: Persephone was the daughter of Demeter (Ceres) and Zeus (Jupiter). Hades (Pluto) kidnapped her and tricked her into marrying him and becoming queen of the Underworld. She spends half the year with her mother on Mount Olympus, but she has to spend the other half in the Underworld. Demeter's grief at her daughter's absence is what causes winter. It's unlikely that the superhero of the same name is directly related to her in any way. Camellia Blume Gather Information DC10: Camellia Blume is a self-employed, fully licensed and board-certified psychiatrist living in Vibora Bay. Her practice in Weston is publicly listed. DC15: Camellia was born in Vibora Bay in 1989. She grew up in Easton, where the rest of her family still lives. She went to private school for primary and secondary education, then attended college at Sinclair University, and medical school at the University of Florida in Vibora Bay. She graduated high school in 2007, got her Bachelor's degree in 2011, and got her M.D. in 2015. She worked as a model in both America and Europe from ages 12-26. She was a cheerleader and frequent beauty pageant contestant (always at least a semifinalist) from middle school up through college. In high school, she was homecoming queen, prom queen, class president, and captain of her cheerleading squads. In college, she was a vice-president of their chapter of the Omega Beta Gamma sorority. She has a twin brother, who's married to one of her sorority sisters, with two children. Her parents are also both Sinclair alumni. Her mother was a cheerleader and her father played football. Her mother runs her own interior design firm. Her father and brother are both executives at Vibora Petroleum. Doctor Blume's practice charges her patients on a sliding scale based on their income, and accepts every insurance provider. The following information cannot be obtained with a Well-Informed check. It can only be obtained with an active use of the Gather Information skill. A character who actively uses their Gather Information skill on Persephone will not obtain any of the following unless they make a point of searching for potentially restricted information. If they do, then they also need to make a contested Gather Information check against Persephone. If she wins, then she will be alerted to their inquiries. They can avoid the contested check by taking a -20 penalty to their original Gather Information checks for a Discrete Inquiry (or if the have the relevant challenge feat). DC20: Doctor Blume's practice is just her, working out of a rented apartment. Not only is she not charging what she's worth, but on some of her patients, she might not even be breaking even. Blume's parents own over a hundred restaurant franchise and rental properties across Vibora Bay and north Florida. Her father was an engineer at Vibora Petroleum before moving up to management. The lady's squeaky clean. She's never been sued, never been arrested, never gotten so much as a speeding ticket. Her parents never even grounded her when she was a kid. Why are you even asking about her? DC25: Doctor Camellia Blume is secretly the superhero Persephone, one of Vibora Bay's official City Defenders. DC30: AEGIS had always suspected Doctor Blume of being Persephone, but since she was not considered a threat and there were no open warrants for her arrest, they only did a routine preliminary investigation, which was kept strictly internal. When she became a City Defender, her identity became a matter of (secret) record, and AEGIS was able to add that record to their own file on her. An appropriate Profession sub-skill can be substituted for any of these skills. Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) or Medicine DC10: Camellia Blume is a psychiatrist, fully licensed and board-certified. She runs her own publicly-listed practice. She charges her patients on a sliding scale based on their income, and she accepts every insurance provider. DC15: Camellia Blume earned her M.D. from the University of Florida Vibora Bay, one of the top medical schools in the country. She completed her residency at their teaching hospital. DC20: Camellia Blume graduated from UFVB with honors. DC25: Not only is Doctor Blume not charging what she's worth, but on some of her patients, she might not even be breaking even. Knowledge (Business) DC10: Camellia Blume is a self-employed psychiatrist. Her practice is publicly listed. She charges on a sliding scale. DC15: Camellia's father and twin brother are both executives at Vibora Petroleum. DC20: Camellia's mother runs an interior design firm. They mostly do theme parks, museums, and private residences. Her father started at VP as an engineer before moving to management. DC25: Camellia's parents own over a hundred different residential properties and restaurant franchises throughout northern Florida. Not only is Doctor Blume not charging what she's worth, but on some of her patients, she might not even be breaking even. Knowledge (Popular Culture) DC10: You've seen that woman's face before. DC15: That woman is a model. You've seen that face before in a print advertisement somewhere, in a magazine or a newspaper, or on a billboard. DC20: That's Camellia Blume. She used to be a model and a cheerleader, and she won a bunch of beauty pageants. DC25: That's Camellia Blume. She was a model from 2001-2015, a cheerleader at Sinclair University from 2007-2011, a cheerleader for the University of Florida Gators from 2011-2015, and a runner-up in the Miss Florida pageant for three years in a row, from 2008-2010.

Octoman Gather Information DC10: There's a superhero in Freedom City called "Octoman". Most people haven't heard of him, but the kids like him. DC15: Octoman is really strong, and he has tentacles. He can stick to walls, like a bug. He has a vlog, and a big mouth. DC20: Octoman is also superhumanly tough and agile, and he has some limited shapeshifting powers. His blood is purple, so he might be some kind of alien or mutant. He acts and sounds young. He's probably a teenager, or a very immature college student. A character who actively uses their Gather Information skill on Octoman will not obtain any of the following information unless they make a point of searching for potentially restricted information. If they do, then they also need to make a contested Gather Information check against Octoman; with his Online Research feat, he can use his Computers skill for this check. If he wins, then he will be alerted to their inquiries. They can avoid the contested check by taking a -20 penalty to their original Gather Information checks for a Discrete Inquiry (or if the have the relevant challenge feat). A character using the Well-Informed feat upon first meeting Octoman or hearing of him may obtain the following information with a high enough Gather Information check, but since that represents prior knowledge, it will not trigger a contested check against him. DC25: Octoman is sighted in the West End twice as often as any other neighborhood in Freedom City. He probably lives there. The following information cannot be obtained with a Well-Informed check. It can only be obtained with an active use of the Gather Information skill. DC30: Close observation of his public interactions reveals that Octoman is probably severely hearing-impaired, and may be completely deaf. He doesn't react when people talk to him unless he's facing them, and even then, he seems to miss things, and not just because he won't stop talking long enough for anyone to get a word in edgewise. DC35: Octoman's blood is radioactive. It's not dangerous, but it does set off Geiger counters. DC40: Octoman is secretly Ben Wang, a teenager whose parents live in the West End. Ben's powers are an accidental by-product of Goanna's mad science. An appropriate Profession sub-skill can be substituted for any of these skills. Knowledge (Life Sciences) DC25: Most vertebrates have red blood, because it contains hemoglobin, which contains iron. Many arthropods and mollusks (including cephalopods) have blood with hemocyanin instead, which is blue, because it contains copper. Hemocyanin works better to keep their bodies oxygenated at cold temperatures. Mollusks and arthropods who live in deep water also have thick, syrupy blood like Octoman's, because of the surrounding fluid pressure, and multiple hearts in order to keep that thicker blood pumping. Octoman's blood is purple, which suggests that it may contain both hemoglobin and hemocyanin, and his blood is both thick and under high pressure. Even his small cuts create a ridiculous spray. This adaptation could allow him to function equally well under water and on dry land. He may be a true human/cephalopod hybrid. Knowledge (Popular Culture) DC10: There's a superhero in Freedom City called "Octoman". Most people haven't heard of him, but the kids like him. DC15: Octoman is really strong, and he has tentacles. He can stick to walls, like a bug. He has a vlog, and a big mouth. DC20: Octoman is also superhumanly tough and agile, and he has some limited shapeshifting powers. His blood is purple, so he might be some kind of alien or mutant. He acts and sounds young. He's probably a teenager, or a very immature college guy. DC25: Octoman's favorite superhero is Geckoman. He talks about "The Gecks" all the time. Knowledge (Streetwise) DC20: Octoman's made some enemies. Goanna and Webmaster both talk about him a lot. Webmaster will pay big bucks for information about Octoman. DC25: Octoman helped Bombshell kick Webmaster's ass and sent him up the river. Webmaster wants payback. DC30: Goanna claims he created both Octoman and Webmaster. Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) DC20: Octoman's vlogs contain occasional references, greetings, and sentiments which indicate that he's probably Jewish. Benicio "Ben" Wang Gather Information DC10: Ben Wang is a teenager living in Freedom City. He's black or Latino or something. DC15: Ben was born in Brooklyn in 2003. He was still a small child when his family moved to Freedom City's West End. His family is Jewish. His mother is black or Latino or something. She works as a public defender. His father is white or Asian, hard to tell. He runs a bakery/deli which serves an eclectic mix of Central European and Southeast Asian food. Ben's primary interests are computer programming and superheroes. A character who actively uses their Gather Information skill on Ben will not obtain any of the following information unless they make a point of searching for potentially restricted information. If they do, then they also need to make a contested Gather Information check against Ben; with his Online Research feat, he can use his Computers skill for this check. If he wins, then he will be alerted to their inquiries. They can avoid the contested check by taking a -20 penalty to their original Gather Information checks for a Discrete Inquiry (or if the have the relevant challenge feat). A character using the Well-Informed feat upon first meeting Ben or hearing of him may obtain the following information with a high enough Gather Information check, but since that represents prior knowledge, it will not trigger a contested check against him. DC20: Ben Wang went to Hebrew school twice a week until he was 16. Most of Ben's family still lives back in Brooklyn. His mother is an Afro-Latina whose family is from Puerto Rico. His father is half-Filipino, half-Ashkenazi. His whole family is Jewish, except his paternal grandmother, who's a Filipina Catholic. Ben is the world's biggest Geckoman fan. His username on every site is "Geckofan", and he runs the most exhaustively detailed Geckoman fan site on the web. Ben went to public school until his sophomore year, when he somehow transferred to the super-exclusive Claremont Academy. There are billionaires who can't get their kids into that place. DC25: Ben is deaf, or at least, severely hearing impaired. He reads lips, he signs, and he has a smartphone and smartwatch app which uses vibrations and flashing lights to alert him to loud noises. The following information cannot be obtained with a Well-Informed check. It can only be obtained with an active use of the Gather Information skill. DC30: Ben's grades in public school were good, but not good enough to get into an elite prep school like Claremont. And his family doesn't have the money to buy his way in. So not only did they pass up thousands of better applicants, but they also gave him a scholarship. It doesn't add up. DC35: Ben Wang isn't just a programming enthusiast. He's a world-class hacker. He's never harmed anyone or stolen anything, but he's broken into plenty of restricted systems. DC40: Ben Wang is secretly the superhero Octoman. Ben's powers are an accidental by-product of Goanna's mad science. An appropriate Profession sub-skill can be substituted for any of these skills. Computers or Knowledge (Technology) DC15: Ben Wang is a hobbyist programmer. He likes to talk shop, and he knows his stuff. DC25: Ben Wang is a world-class hacking prodigy. A lesser hacker would be in prison after some of the crap he's pulled. But he never steals anything or hurts anyone. Knowledge (Business) DC20: Ben's father runs a bakery/deli in the West End. DC25: Ben's father's place prepares an eclectic mix of Central European and Southeast Asian food. Knowledge (Civics) DC20: Ben's mother is a public defender working for the Freedom City district attorney's office. DC25: Ben's mother is a rare thing, a Freedom City resident with anti-superhero sentiments. Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) DC20: Ben Wang's family is culturally Jewish but not particularly devout. DC25: Ben Wang went to Hebrew school in Freedom City. His paternal grandmother is Catholic, the one outlier in his family.